Focus Features To Begin Work On "It's Kind Of A Funny Story"

November 4, 2009 1:50 p.m. EST

New York City (CNS) - Adolescence can be a crazy time. Focus Features' latest film shows exactly how true that statement can be.

Focus has announced plans to start production on "It's Kind of a Funny Story," a movie by filmmaking team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, adapted from Ned Vizzini's novel of the same name. Production - overseen by Misher Films' Kevin Misher and Wayfare Entertainment's Ben Browning, Michael Maher and Peter Rawlinson - will begin in early December in New York. Major casting for the project has also begun. Among the actors already attached are Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, Zach Galifianakis, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan, Zoe Kravitz, Viola Davis and Aasif Mandvi.

The story follows Gilchrist as 16-year-old Craig, who decides to get away from his hectic teenage life and his parents (Graham, Gaffigan) by committing himself to a mental health clinic, only to wind up in the adult ward rather than the children's. Taking up with a fellow patient (Galifianakis) and under the watch of the staff (Davis, Mandvi), Craig learns more about the difficulties of life and love, whether it's with the girl (Kravitz) he's been infatuated with forever or the promising relationship with another patient (Roberts) his age.

The latest team-up of Boden and Fleck follows on the heels of the recent baseball film "Sugar." Their collaboration on the 2006 movie "Half Nelson," which Fleck directed and the pair co-wrote, garnered a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Ryan Gosling. The pair's work together began with the shorts "Gowanus, Brooklyn" and "Have You Seen This Man?"

In a press release for the movie, Focus Features CEO James Schamus referred to the duo as "two of today's finest independent filmmakers."

"The compassion they always show towards the characters in their movies will be particularly in evidence in this humane comedy, especially as performed by these wonderful actors," Schamus said.